Scotty McCreery's 'Clear as Day' Certified Platinum

The season 10 winner's album is among the highest selling “American Idol” debuts of all time, moving 1 million copies in just three months.

Andrew Southam

On Tuesday, Jan. 10, Scotty McCreery’s first album Clear As Day is officially certified as platinum, making it one of the highest selling American Idol debuts, with more than one million copies moved just three months after its release.

“It means the world to me,” said McCreery in a press release. “It’s one of the highest honors you can get with your album and it’s a huge testament to the loyalty of country music fans and how great they have been to me this year. 2011 was absolutely an incredible, life-changing year for me. I want to say a huge thanks to the fans for this.”

Nabbing the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Top 200 and Top Country Albums charts makes McCreery the youngest male in history to open at the top of the all-genre chart with a debut release. Clear As Day also garnered the highest sales of any country solo album released last year and held steady in the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart for six weeks.

“Never in a million years did I dream that the album would go platinum,” the singer added. “It’s wild! It’s going to take me a few months or years to really wrap my head around it.”

“I Love You This Big,” the album’s first single, has also been certified gold and his current single, “The Trouble With Girls,” is approaching gold status, as well.

Thursday will mark the beginning of McCreery’s first country music tour, “Virtual Reality Tour 2012,” in Grand Rapids, Mich. The newcomer will serve as support for Brad Paisley, along with The Band Perry.

“I’m looking forward to having a great time,” said McCreery of the tour. “It’s going to be a fun, jam-packed set.”

UPDATED: A previous version of this story mistakenly claimed Clear As Day was the biggest Idol debut of all-time. That honor goes to Clay Aiken, whose 2003 album Measure of a Man, was certified double-platinum a month after release.